Janae Cherie

Content note:  This essay discusses grooming and childhood abuse in an educational, non-graphic way. If this topic feels heavy today, please take care of yourself and step away if you need to.   Most people imagine grooming as something obvious – a stranger, a sudden escalation, a clear red flag. But grooming rarely looks like danger. This is what it actually looked like in my life – and why I didn’t recognize it at the time. It often looks like trust. It looks like attention. It looks like...

Life has a funny way of testing how much strength we really have – often when we least expect it. Over the years, I’ve faced my share of challenges, but nothing quite prepared me for the call that came one quiet afternoon at the dentist’s office. The Call Three years ago, I was sitting in my dentist chair, waiting for my turn to be seen, when I saw my doctor’s number pop up on the phone screen. My heart dropped. I’d had a lumpectomy a week prior to remove what we believed was a non-cancerous...

In a demanding career, it’s easy to let your identity get wrapped up entirely in your work. The deadlines, meetings, and constant drive for results can quietly consume every ounce of your time and energy. For many of us, the harder we work, the less space we leave for anything else. But I’ve learned that balance doesn’t mean doing less – it means doing what replenishes your spirit. Finding the things that fill you back up so you can show up fully, both in your career and in your life. Finding...